Tales of Seikyu Romance Guide: All 18 Candidates (2026)

This Tales of Seikyu romance guide covers all 18 of the game's confirmed romance candidates with documented gift data, how to handle heart events without locking yourself out of the person you actually want, and how the heart-10 marriage system works.

TL;DR: Tales of Seikyu has 18 confirmed romance candidates (9 male, 9 female), all profiled here with gift data. Progress by talking daily, giving loved gifts, and completing heart events. The romance choice at each heart event can't be undone in the moment, so decide before the cutscene fires, but the July 2026 Shrine of Love update lets you visit the Inari Shrine afterward to break up, divorce, and reopen a route you previously rejected. Marriage is in the game: reach heart level 10, craft the special ring, and propose. White Crystal is a solid cross-compatible gift for several candidates if you're unsure what to bring.

Tales of Seikyu romance guide: how does it work? (quick answer)

The core loop: talk to a candidate daily, give gifts twice per week, and attend heart events when the affinity menu shows a rainbow glow on their portrait. Heart events trigger at specific locations during certain time windows. At a particular point in each character's arc, you'll be asked whether you like them as a friend or romantically. That in-scene choice can't be undone once you click it, though the Shrine of Love update means it's no longer locked in for the rest of the playthrough (see below). There's no jealousy system, so you can be lovers with multiple characters at once if you choose the romantic path with each. Marriage is real, though: reach heart level 10 with a candidate, craft the special ring, and propose to move them into your farmhouse with you.

The max heart level for a standard relationship track is 10, with marriage unlocking at that threshold rather than capping out earlier.

The broader Tales of Seikyu complete guide places this relationship loop alongside the farm, crafting, and beginner systems.

All 18 romanceable characters, with confirmed gift data

Tales of Seikyu shipped with 6 romance candidates in Early Access and has grown to 18 confirmed candidates since, per community-tracked gift and birthday data across multiple guides. Every character has a distinct yokai type that shapes their personality and gift preferences.

One number worth flagging: Siliconera's 1.0 launch coverage described the update as adding "20 romance options" without naming the extra two. Every source that lists candidates by name, including the game's own dedicated wiki, stops at the 18 profiled below. Until ACE Entertainment or a guide confirms two more names, 18 is the documented, verifiable count and the one this guide uses.

For a separate completionist checklist, the Tales of Seikyu achievements guide tracks the game's confirmed unlocks.

Growing flowers like these roses is one of the cheapest ways to keep several candidates' gift needs covered without leaving the farm.

Male candidates

Alin (birthday Autumn 6) is built around a retro-tech hobbyist personality: old TVs, radios, and arcade cabinets fill his living space. He loves Old-Fashioned TV, Portable Game Console, Television, Arcade Machine, Capybara, and any headwear. Anyone stockpiling electronics-type crafted items for other reasons will find his gift list easy to satisfy on the side.

Hephaestus (Minotaur blacksmith, birthday Spring 17) looks intimidating and has one of the softer arcs in the game. He loves Gold Ore, Gold Ingot, Milk, and any spicy dish. His storyline revolves around a legendary blade and who's worthy of it. If you're mining anyway, setting aside one or two Gold Ingots per week costs almost nothing.

The resource side of that routine has a useful parallel in the Starsand Island fishing and mining guide, even though the gift tables themselves are different.

Kincho (Tanuki clan leader, birthday Winter 28) was flagged as a work-in-progress in pre-1.0 data but is fully romanceable now. He loves Three-Color Dango, Chicken Egg, Chicken, and any crop, all things a basic farm produces on its own. His storyline deals with inter-faction tension between yokai clans and has some of the longer event chains.

Leon Achard (priest and former explorer, birthday Autumn 8) wrote an autobiography and now runs the village's education programs. He loves Inarizushi, Inari Amulet, and any spicy dish. His events are spread across multiple seasons, so don't wait until Autumn to start.

Musashi (Nekomata merchant, birthday Spring 6) has a redemption arc tied to his black-market past. He loves Salmon, Cuttlefish, White Ceramic Tea Set, and any tea. The cat-yokai theming runs throughout his dialogue in small ways that reward attention. His early events are available before you've built out much gear, making him a natural first-playthrough pick.

For another candidate-by-candidate farm-sim comparison, see the Starsand Island romance guide.

Sasaki (woodworker and furniture seller, birthday Winter 20) hides anxiety behind jokes, which makes his arc hit harder once you get through the deflection. He loves Potato Pancake, Miso Soup, and any tea, all inexpensive early-game cooking output. Worth investigating if you like understated storylines.

Torleone (Kawauso otter fishmonger, birthday Summer 9) has a guarded backstory and plays an uncle-figure role in the village. He loves Eel, King Crab, Lobster, and the Gambler's Amulet, making him one of the pricier candidates to court early. Once your rod upgrades, the cost evens out.

Uwabami (birthday Spring 26) leans hard into a blade-collector aesthetic: he loves Dororo (the Black Sword), Black Bamboo Scythe, Viper Fang, Golden Sword, Muramasa, and any meat or meat dish. Anyone building a weapon collection for the crafting side of the game will have an easy time keeping him happy.

Yohji Shibata (Inugami diplomat, birthday Winter 9) is equal parts gentleman and swordsman, with a genuine interest in human history that drives his dialogue choices. He loves Coffee Bean, Coffee, Coffee-Flavored Cake, and any artisan furniture. If you're already running cooking recipes, you'll produce his gifts almost by accident.

GODEEPER: The crafting system feeds directly into gift prep for Hephaestus and Yohji. Tales of Seikyu Crafting Guide: What to Build First →

Female candidates

If you are comparing candidate rosters across farm sims, the Fields of Mistria marriage guide offers a useful parallel reference for its own relationship and proposal systems.

Anna (Tanuki casino hostess, birthday Autumn 19) is quiet and distant, with an obvious restlessness she doesn't quite articulate. She loves Matcha, any strong tea, and the Sun Wheel Ring. Her events lean into internal conflict rather than action, and the early access community consistently flagged her dialogue as among the best-written in the game.

Seasonal planning matters in a farm sim with time-gated events. The Fields of Mistria seasons and festivals guide is a useful comparison for how a calendar shapes gift and event planning in another game.

Liliana Shibata (Inugami painter, birthday Winter 9) is Yohji's sibling and spends her time tracking down rare flowers to paint. She loves all flowers, Three Color Dango, and the Swiss Cheese Plant. She's genuinely one of the easiest candidates to court, since flowers are available from your first Spring and cost nothing but time.

Mika Fukuhara (Harionago onsen owner, birthday Winter 12) looks far younger than she is, and her arc makes this uncomfortable in ways the game earns rather than just implies. She loves Strawberry, any sweets, and any dye. There's an unsettling undercurrent beneath the cozy surface that a fair number of players call the most memorable of the female routes.

Miss Ama (Amabie seamstress and former actress, birthday Autumn 8) runs the tailor shop with the kind of composure that suggests she's seen more than she mentions. She loves Bobo Pearl, Pearl, Grilled Fish, and any seafood or fish dish. Fishing and cooking both unlock early, so she's accessible within the first season.

If you are still setting up a first-season routine before committing to a route, the Fields of Mistria beginner guide is a useful comparison for early farm priorities.

Nyotengu (Tengu warrior and yokai peacekeeper, birthday Winter 4) is battle-hungry and devoted to clan duty, and she doesn't bother pretending otherwise. She loves Char-Grilled Kebabs, Soy Sauce Dango, any wine or liquor, and any equipment item. Her events feel like a different game compared to the slice-of-life routes. If you want something with more edge, she's the pick.

Shuten (Oni tavern owner and adoptive mother, birthday Autumn 28) listens to everyone's problems without making it feel like therapy. She loves Sake and any strong tea. Her found-family arc consistently ranks among the most fleshed-out in the game, and she's hard to dislike even if you're not romancing her.

Yoni (deer yokai and aspiring idol, birthday Summer 5) wants a stage career but struggles to actually pursue it. She loves all flowers and Omurice. Her events track a self-confidence arc that plays out through the village's relationship with music.

Yui Oda (mayor from a prestigious family, birthday Summer 3) bakes in private despite her official composure, which tells you most of what you need to know. She loves Strawberry Cake, the Strawberry Ninja Bubble, and Rose. She's harder to approach early because the mayoral storyline gates some of her events behind main quest progress.

For a wider look at how farm, mining, and social systems fit together, the Starsand Island complete guide is a useful genre comparison.

Yuki-onna (birthday Winter 13) is one of the newer additions to the roster and leans into a cold, wintry aesthetic that matches her name. She loves Extra-Cold Ice Cream, Bobo Pearl, and Sulfur Ore. Her Winter birthday makes her one of the easiest candidates to line up a doubled-value gift for, since her loved items are cheap to source.

For a first-week resource route in another farm sim, the Starsand Island beginner guide is a useful companion read before the gift-system details below.

Gift system: how to raise hearts efficiently

Not every named NPC in the village is a marriage candidate. Seabert and a handful of other named characters are friendship-only.

Community trackers generally agree you can't just spam gifts endlessly in a day, though the exact weekly cap isn't consistently documented across guides. Birthdays double the relationship gain regardless, so the single most efficient move is saving your best item for that day. The social menu tracks both.

The four gift tiers: loved (max gain, unique animation), liked (solid gain), neutral (small gain), and disliked (negative effect). The gap between loved and liked is significant enough that it's worth learning each character's preferences before you burn through good materials.

A few items cross multiple candidates' loved lists. Any strong tea is loved by Musashi, Anna, Shuten, and Sasaki, so a tea-focused kitchen covers four candidates at once. Bobo Pearl works for both Miss Ama and Yuki-onna. White Crystal is another cross-candidate option worth stockpiling: Yohji, Anna, Mika, and Shuten all count it as a loved gift, and it comes from mining nodes in the Fox Ruins or from the Casino Lucky Shop, so it doesn't eat into cooking ingredients the way tea does. For characters whose loved gifts are expensive or late-game (Lobster for Torleone, Gold Ingot for Hephaestus), cooking a high-quality meal they enjoy works as a substitute.

The Starsand Island farming guide is another useful comparison for planning crops and resource income around a relationship schedule.

The Tales of Seikyu gift guide is the better reference when you want the full item-by-item ranking rather than a cross-candidate shortlist.

The crafting station unlocks Matcha and tea items early, which feeds directly into Musashi and Anna's preferences. Flowers, the cheapest crop, covers Liliana and Yoni without any processing required. The Tales of Seikyu crafting guide covers which machines make that gift preparation easier.

GODEEPER: New to the game? The seasonal priorities and early resource routing affect how many gift runs you can sustain. Tales of Seikyu Tips: 9 Things to Know Before Year 1 →

Heart events: what to expect

Heart events fire at specific locations during specific time windows. The affinity menu shows a rainbow shimmer around a character's portrait when their next event is ready. Missing a window doesn't permanently block an event, but you'll wait until the same window opens again.

Some events are gated behind story chapter progress, not just heart level. If you've hit the required level but nothing fires, check whether you've finished the relevant main quest arc first.

The romance choice shows up as a dialogue option mid-scene, not as a separate menu prompt. You'll be asked something like "I like you as a friend" or "I like you romantically." There's no undo in the moment, so think before you click. Manual saves before known event locations are the safest play if you're uncertain. As of the July 2026 Shrine of Love update, a choice you regret isn't locked in forever: see the Inari Shrine section below for how to break up, divorce, and reopen a rejected route.

That explicit friend-or-romance decision is a useful contrast with the shorter relationship track discussed in the Moonlight Peaks review.

Dating is active in 1.0, carried over from the Kindred Spirits update. You can schedule dates at the Casino or the Tavern. Double-booking two candidates for the same slot produces an awkward scene rather than blocking progress, but you'll lose the normal relationship gain from that date. The Tales of Seikyu 1.0 launch overview gives the wider context for the update that added the marriage track.

The Shrine of Love update: breakups, divorce, and second chances

Tales of Seikyu's "Shrine of Love" update went live July 16, 2026 as version 1.1.5, the first content patch after the 1.0 launch, and the game is still shipping 1.1.x patches on that branch as of this writing. The headline addition is a relationship management feature built around the Inari Shrine, and it directly changes the "permanent means permanent" advice above.

Per the official patch notes, visiting the Inari Shrine now lets you break up with a partner you've romantically committed to, get divorced from a spouse, and reopen romance routes with characters you previously rejected. The developer's announcement frames this as needing "the right offerings to hand," but neither that post nor the detailed 1.1.5 changelog names specific materials or a gold cost, so treat any exact offering list you see in a community guide as unverified until Ace Entertainment documents it directly.

The current relationship system is also covered in the Tales of Seikyu review, including what the 1.0 update changed beyond the original Early Access loop.

Practically, this loosens the scheduling advice below. Picking a low-cost candidate in Year 1 no longer permanently locks you out of a higher-investment candidate you want in Year 2. If you committed to Liliana early and later decide you want to pursue Hephaestus instead, the Shrine is the tool for that, provided you're willing to divorce or break up with your current partner first. The choice you make in the heart-event cutscene itself is still immediate and can't be undone mid-scene, but it's no longer a permanent lock on the rest of the game.

The same update also addressed a detail several players had asked about: married yokai spouses move into their own separate room in the farmhouse by default rather than sharing yours. As of the Shrine of Love update, you can interact with the marital bed to spend the night together whenever you want. It's an added option on top of the existing arrangement, not a replacement, so the separate-room setup is still there if you'd rather leave it alone.

Step-by-Step

1. Choose a candidate and learn their loved gifts: Use the candidate list and gift preferences above to pick a route you can supply consistently. Low-cost early routes include Liliana, Yoni, Kincho, and Anna. Medium-cost routes include Musashi, Yohji, Miss Ama, and Nyotengu. Hephaestus, Torleone, and Uwabami need higher investment. For broader first-year routing, the Tales of Seikyu beginner tips guide covers the seasonal resource priorities around this choice.

2. Build a regular gift routine: Talk to the candidate daily, give gifts twice per week, and save the best item for their birthday because birthday gains are doubled. Running two or three low-cost routes in Year 1 is sustainable while high-investment candidates are better started in Year 2.

3. Watch for the heart-event signal: Check the affinity menu for the rainbow glow around a candidate's portrait, then visit the required location during the available time window. Missing a window does not permanently block the event, but you must wait for it to return.

4. Choose the relationship path during the event: The scene asks whether you like the candidate as a friend or romantically. The choice cannot be undone in that moment, so save before a known event location if you are uncertain.

5. Reach heart level 10 and propose: The standard relationship track reaches heart level 10. Craft the special ring and propose once the candidate reaches that threshold to move them into your farmhouse.

6. Reopen the route at the Inari Shrine if plans change: The Shrine of Love update lets you break up with a partner, divorce a spouse, and reopen a route you previously rejected. You still have to end the current relationship first.

If you are comparing 1.0 farm-sim relationship systems before choosing what to play next, the Fields of Mistria review covers that game's completed marriage and family update.

BETTER PRICE: Tales of Seikyu is $24.99 on Steam. $13.29 on Loaded → (sponsored): same Steam key for less.

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Related Reading

• Tales of Seikyu Crafting Guide: What to Build First: Which machines to prioritize in the first week, including the Hephaestus forge unlock that feeds directly into romance gift prep.
• Tales of Seikyu Tips: 9 Things to Know Before Year 1: Seasonal priorities, yokai form unlocks, and early resource routing that affects how much time you have for relationship-building.
• Tales of Seikyu 1.0 Launch: Yokai Sim Goes Very Positive: Overview of what shipped at 1.0 and what is confirmed for future updates, including the marriage system.

References

• Tales of Seikyu on Steam
• Tales of Seikyu marriage candidates list (GamePressure)
• Kindred Spirits update adds pets and more romance (Siliconera)
• Tales of Seikyu gifts guide (Last Word on Gaming)
• Male romance guide (Cozy Gaming Panda)
• Female romance guide (Cozy Gaming Panda)
• Tales of Seikyu Characters (dedicated wiki)
• 1.0 Tales of Seikyu Adds New Romance Options and Marriage (Siliconera)
• Tales of Seikyu's Shrine of Love Update Is Live! (official Steam announcement)
• Tales of Seikyu - 1.1.5 Patch Notes (official, full changelog)
• Tales of Seikyu Steam key on Loaded: often cheaper than the direct Steam price.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many romanceable characters are in Tales of Seikyu? Tales of Seikyu has 18 confirmed romance candidates, up from 6 in Early Access: 9 male (Alin, Hephaestus, Kincho, Leon, Musashi, Sasaki, Torleone, Uwabami, Yohji) and 9 female (Anna, Liliana, Mika, Miss Ama, Nyotengu, Shuten, Yoni, Yui, Yuki-onna).

Can you romance multiple characters at once in Tales of Seikyu? Yes, you can become lovers with multiple characters simultaneously in Tales of Seikyu. The choice at a heart event can't be undone in the moment, but the Shrine of Love update (July 2026) lets you later break up or divorce via the Inari Shrine and reopen a previously rejected route.

Is there marriage in Tales of Seikyu? Yes. Reach the tenth heart event with a candidate, craft the special ring, and propose to move them into your farmhouse with you. This was added after the initial 1.0 launch, so older guides may still say marriage isn't in the game yet.

What are the best gifts in Tales of Seikyu? Any strong tea covers Musashi, Anna, Shuten, and Sasaki at once, making it one of the safer cross-candidate gifts. Cooking high-quality meals like Strawberry Shortcake also raises hearts reliably across most candidates. Check each character's specific loved gifts to maximize relationship gains.

What happens at heart events in Tales of Seikyu? Heart events are special scenes triggered at specific locations and times. You'll get an immediate choice between "I like you as a friend" and "I like you romantically" with no undo mid-scene. Since the Shrine of Love update, you can revisit that choice later at the Inari Shrine. The affinity menu shows a rainbow glow when an event is ready.

Do gift preferences reset between seasons in Tales of Seikyu? No, gift preferences are fixed per character. What a character loves in Spring still applies in Winter. However, birthday gifts double the relationship gain, so track birthdays (viewable in the social menu) and save the best gifts for those days.

How do I unlock more heart events in Tales of Seikyu? Some heart events are gated behind story chapter progress, not just heart level. If an event does not fire despite reaching the required heart level, check whether you have completed the relevant main story arc. Visiting the relevant NPC's location at different times of day also helps.